Chapter 43

Chapter 43

CHAPTER 43

Huge trees towered far above us, forming a canopy so dense that the sky was practically invisible, with only small slivers of sunlight bursting through the thick cover. The forest floor was soft, with a thick layer of leaves and whatever plant debris had fallen from above over the years. The occasional relative quiet of our steps was often broken by the snapping of a twig underfoot. The smell of the forest was so thick it was almost oppressive. The scent of nature and vegetation masked everything else and prickled the inside of my nose. I jumped as I felt a small branch touch my forearm, and I flapped the neck of my sweater, hoping to cool myself off. Even in the frigid cold of the forest, I was already sweating due to how nervous I was. Cries of different Pokemon could be heard all around us, and unlike in the previous routes, they weren’t scared of making themselves known.

Emilia screeched as an Ariados lowered itself from a tree ahead. It quickly scuttled forward, chasing a Venonat that desperately tried to jump out of the way. My brain quickly recalled what Instructor Anders had told us about the two. Venonat were nocturnal, but due to the thick vegetation protecting them from sunlight, they were active throughout the day. They weren’t generally a threat to trainers and mostly ate small bug types. Meanwhile, Ariados would usually never go after humans unless they were hungry enough, in which case they’d trap you in their web and drag you back to their nest. Not wanting to provoke the two, we stayed still and watched as the spider savagely bit into the Venonat before spinning it in its web and dragging it away.

I swallowed and watched my companions. We all nodded at each other and kept going. We had created a formation to maximize our chances. First was Justin in the front with his Growlithe. The fire type was the only one whose sense of smell would be able to find threats in the forest, so it was only natural that he would lead us. Next, we put Emilia and Cecilia on his flanks. Deino and Beldum were both incredibly bulky while also packing a punch, meaning that they were the perfect first line of defense to ward off an attack from the front. Behind them, we had me, Pauline, and Louis. Gothita, Elekid, and Prinplup were our long-range attackers, meant to support Beldum and Deino from the back without being at risk of suffering from a lethal attack. Finally, we had Denzel and Eevee in the rear. Whereas Growlithe could lead us with his sense of smell, Eevee’s strength was his hearing, and he’d be able to warn us if anything was stalking us.

So much planning had gone into this, and yet we were still all terrified. Louis couldn’t help but look behind his shoulder every five seconds, while Emilia kept muttering to herself that it would be okay over and over under the watchful eye of her Beldum. Denzel was distracting himself by petting Eevee and whispering something in his ear, but I knew he was scared because of a nervous tick he had where he clenched and unclenched his fists. Justin had protested many times to being put in the front due to being the obvious first target. The only ones who looked somewhat unfazed here were Cecilia and Pauline, but even I could tell they were anxious. And we hadn’t even been in here for thirty minutes.i, please stop talking. You’re driving me crazy,” Louis said quietly.

We didn’t want to make too much noise due to the amount of risk involved.

“It’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay—”

“Please, Pauline, shut her up,” He hissed through his teeth. Beldum’s eye darted toward Louis and glowed slightly. He inhaled sharply and stopped talking.

Pauline broke formation slightly and offered Emilia a shoulder to cry on. Her quiet sobs turned into a cry, and the cry became louder and louder no matter what we tried to calm her down—

Growlithe started growling and barking loudly, and Eevee did the same, his ears twitching. We all stopped dead in our tracks and got ready for whatever was coming. My ears were ringing, and I was barely even breathing. It was like time had stopped completely. I braced myself as loud stomps rang through the forest, slowly getting louder. A huge Pinsir burst through the thick vegetation, but he stopped, apparently sizing us up. It probably hadn’t expected such a huge group. According to Anders, they were rather rare because of their dislike for the cold, but they were incredibly dangerous. Just our luck. After a few seconds, Pinsir yelled out as its pincers slammed together, creating a terrifying sound that the Pokemon used to intimidate its enemies. It rushed forward.

Ignoring Emilia’s screams, Cecilia gave the first order.

“Deino, don’t hold back. Dragon Breath!”

Deino roared as his mouth lit ablaze with draconic energy. The Pinsir sidestepped and dodged as it continued its way toward us. Not stopping his attack, Deino simply kept going and turned his head, hitting the Pinsir who screeched out in pain. Beldum used the opportunity to ram into the bug type without any of his trainer’s commands.

“Thundershock!” I ordered Elekid. He grunted and spun his arms, sending an arc of electricity toward Pinsir. The bug type convulsed for a few seconds before he screeched in rage and leaped at Deino, grabbing its neck with its pincers. It shook the dragon type wildly, and he attempted to fight back, but he couldn’t get out of its grip. I couldn’t use any of Elekid’s attacks without hurting Deino now, so I could only watch.

Setting up camp in a forest this dense was infuriatingly difficult. Obviously, the big tent was a no-go, but even with the smaller tents Cecilia’s group had purchased at the outpost, we still needed to do a lot of work. First, we cleared the forest floor out of vegetation, evening the ground enough to put the tents on. Just clearing out around a seventy feet area took hours, and we had to do it with our hands. Luckily, Growlithe sped up the process, and Eevee started helping as soon as he recovered from his poisoning. Next, we had to collect firewood. We had no food to cook, but the warmth would be useful to soothe our minds and dry our clothes, and while Denzel, Louis, and Justin did that, we set up everybody’s tents. They’d be able to fit two people each, meaning that some unfortunate soul would have to sleep on their own. I volunteered since I had to sleep with Togetic anyway. I wasn’t about to summon the entire Arceus damned wildlife to our location by waking up screaming.

Anyway, we had to do all of that while being constantly under attack by anything that thought it could take us on. Ekans, Weepinbell, Venipede, anything desperate enough for food. We considered building some kind of wall using more wood, but that idea quickly died when we realized how much work it would take for what would amount to not that much protection. Pokemon would be able to either fly above it, or just burst through with a move. Finally though, we had our camp set up.

Pauline’s Charmeleon quickly lit the fire with its tail before being recalled once again. We had Prinplup in case it spread by accident, and we needed to extinguish it quickly, and if that wasn’t enough, I had Frillish and Cecilia had Slowpoke. We stayed silently by the fire. Some of us ate with our Pokemon, while others like Emilia and Louis were just staring in the distance, terrified that something would leap out of the shadows and attack us. The fire would do us good, yes, but it also made us extremely easy to spot, adding to the tension.

And tension, there was. Louis seemingly thought that this was an appropriate moment to try to rekindle his romance, while Pauline was getting more and more aggressive toward him.

“Shut the fuck up! I’m tired of you, Louis! I’m fucking tired of you!”

“Mind your own business.”

“This is my business! You’re letting your silly little lovesick heart in the driver’s seat when it should be your fucking brain in there!”

“Pauline, please, your language—”

“Fuck off too! I’m going to sleep,” Pauline hissed at Justin. “Wake me up when it’s my turn to stand guard.” Her tone turned soft when she turned toward Emilia. “Come on Emi, let’s get you in bed.”

The girl just nodded weakly and followed her friend.

“I ought to get to bed too, I suppose. Louis, my friend, remind me of the watch order again?”

Louis’ head was pointed downward, and he didn’t even bother to lift it as he spoke. “Cecilia and I were supposed to be the first watch—” He was interrupted by her sigh. “Then it’s Denzel and Grace, then it was you and Pauline.”

“Oh dear,” Justin sighed. “Well, good night, everyone. May tomorrow be smoother than today.”

We all bid him goodnight. Emilia wasn’t going to stand watch because we considered her too unstable and scared to be reliable, so she’d get to sleep all night. Throughout the next few minutes, we trickled out of the camp. Denzel was first, joining Justin in their tent. I considered staying a little while longer, but I realized it was just my jealousy speaking, and that it was better if I was rested for when they’d wake me up. I released Togetic, who seemed eager to know how today had gone. I decided to release Frillish as well to update the entire team on what had gone on. We were partners, after all, so it wouldn’t be fair to keep them in the dark.

Finally, I recalled Elekid and Frillish and fell asleep to Togetic’s quiet chirps.